Vice and Vice Versa
by Emerald Embers
Summary: A quick tryst during a ceasefire in the ancient war. Janos Audron/The Hylden General.


Janos woke with a start, but could not say he was enormously surprised to see the creature that had woken him with a loud landing.

Unnecessarily loud, at that. Ezekiel had intended for him to wake.

"Good evening, Janos."

Janos sat up, eyeing the visitor standing in his balcony warily. "What do you want, Ezekiel?"

Ezekiel tilted his head, skin shining whiter than his grin in the dull light. "I had wanted a warm welcome, but I can see you're not in a mood for pleasantries."

"It's past twilight on the longest day of the month," Janos pointed out, stifling a yawn. "But seeing as you have seen fit to interrupt my rest, can I at least ask how you got in at this godforsaken hour?"

"Tsk tsk on the blasphemy, my dear vampire," Ezekiel teased before gesturing to the ledge behind him. "Balconies don't have locks."

"You sound dangerously amused, all things considered that the wards would have vaporised you if they were up," Janos said. "What happened to them?"

"Your elders saw fit to remove them for the duration of this pointless exercise. I'm not in the habit of throwing myself at buildings that might evaporate me."

Janos bit his tongue out of anger before climbing out of bed and brushing down his tunic. He hated the ceasefire, being as the only people paying it any attention were the elders. His men had been dying in skirmishes, and officially he wasn't permitted to give them new orders.

Thankfully, they had taken the matter of retaliation into their own hands.

"You still haven't told me why you decided to visit."

"Are you always hostile when you're tired?"

"Only in your charming company. What will it take to make you leave?"

"I thought you would have guessed that by now," Ezekiel replied, clicking his tongue and stretching out his wings, and Janos straightened his back in response, fighting the flush threatening to tinge his cheeks purple.

"I'm not interested. I've told you before."

"Then feign interest," Ezekiel said, grinning wide. "You practise enough at meetings."

"Feigned interest is still disinterest," Janos replied in a warning tone, folding his arms.

"Why do you insist on this charade, Janos? I know you've been tempted by the idea since you first laid eyes on my kind." Ezekiel made a sweeping gesture at the room's contents. "All the religious trinkets and prayers in the world won't sate your curiosity." A wry smile, extending further into his jaw than seemed right. Snake-like. "Just because we don't share a few ideals -"

"Don't tempt me, Ezekiel. I've asked you before -"

"I'm not tempting you," Ezekiel interrupted, crossing the room to take Janos' hand in his own. "To tempt you, you would have to want it first, and you're always so keen to state that you don't."

Janos' mouth felt dry. "And if I did, and feared the consequences?"

There was a pause as Ezekiel contemplated his answer, claws tracing Janos' wrist lightly. "You aren't known for letting fear cloud your judgement," Ezekiel said.

Janos pulled his hand free of Ezekiel's, feeling acutely vulnerable. Scarcely dressed as he was, on a cold and dark night at that, he felt a little like the lost child in a fairy tale. The presence of a creature as seductive and as dangerous as any that might feature in a fairy tale did nothing to soothe his nerves. "Are you not tired?"

"You are persistent, Janos," Ezekiel sighed, "But no. I haven't slept in a long time. I sought your company because you're the only man I know who isn't inclined to kill upon being woken."

Janos laughed, glad for the relief of it. "It's good to know I have some use."

"You have many uses, even if you haven't figured them all out yet." Ezekiel gave Janos an appraising look, his eyes dark with hunger. "Your skin suits this light, but I do wonder how you can stand to bare so much of it."

"I wasn't expecting to," Janos said. "I had enjoyed the cover of my bedsheets."

"I could keep you warm," Ezekiel said, and Janos rolled his eyes before walking out onto the balcony, listening to the click of Ezekiel's feet on the marble floor as he looked out at the distant torch lights marking the human village.

"How generous," Janos said, knowing Ezekiel would be colder beneath his tunic than the night air. Vampires burned with heat; Hylden drained it from the air.

"There is a gift I would like to show you," Ezekiel said, close enough that Janos could feel Ezekiel's chest against his wings. "And before you ask, no. I'm not being obscene."

"What is it?"

"Telling you would spoil the surprise," Ezekiel said, spreading Janos' wings carefully so he could stand closer still, his hands coming to cover Janos' eyes.

"Will I regret saying yes?"

"I hope not," Ezekiel replied, voice soft. "Look again."

Janos did not know what spell or curse Ezekiel had placed on his sight, but when his eyes were uncovered it was as if the sky itself had melted away, leaving in its place a metropolis of fire and amber, glistening amidst a sea of darkness. "What did you do?" Janos asked, feeling guilt for feasting his eyes on the sight before him.

"You can see it now, can't you?" Ezekiel said, lips brushing against Janos' ear. "That is our paradise. Golden towers stretching into the distance, and we will not need any faith to get there. We will build it ourselves."

Janos' stomach twisted at the reminder of how different their ideologies were, how different they would always be. "A beautiful grave for stagnant souls."

"Your wheel demands death," Ezekiel said. "I would rather live a stagnant eternity than die for a chance to see God."

"God would take your paradise from you."

"And we would build another," Ezekiel replied sharply, before his hands slid to Janos' waist, gripping gently at first, then tighter when Janos did not flinch away. "And another, and another."

"What are you doing?" Janos asked, feeling the catch in his voice as Ezekiel's hand moved to his stomach, the tips of his claws just inches from where Janos felt himself stirring.

"How should I answer?"

Janos shivered, countering with another question, "Why?"

"Because I'm bored of arguing with you." Ezekiel rested his chin where Janos' neck curved into his shoulder, the illusion he had created fading back into the night. "Because I've wanted you since you first cut through a crowd of those posturing bastards you call elders to speak with me." His lips grazed Janos' neck. "How should I answer, Janos?"

Janos looked out at his surroundings, the darkened balconies of the citadel's other inhabitants, and found that his conscience was silent. Whether that was Ezekiel's influence or not, he did not know, but the fierce beat of his heart and the electric tingle of his nerves demanded he answer his companion. His enemy.

Janos took a deep breath, steeling himself. "And what do you want? To dominate me? To break me?"

"I want you to stop with the moral posturing because it doesn't suit you, and give into what you want," Ezekiel replied, acidic.

"You would be dominated, if it suited me?"

"I would kiss every damned feather of your wings if it meant making you treat yourself honestly."

Janos couldn't fully stifle his moan on contemplating that thought, and closed a hand over Ezekiel's on his stomach. "Would you take me out here? In the cold and dark, where anyone could see?"

"Is that what you want?"

Janos closed his eyes and swallowed before nodding.

Janos tensed as Ezekiel dropped to his knees, sliding both hands up the back of Janos' thighs, material bunching in such a way as to preserve his modesty, before Ezekiel paused. Janos didn't know why, but he knew if Ezekiel didn't move soon then he would lose his nerve and end this tryst before it began.

Janos flushed fiercely as Ezekiel spread him wide, whispering something indistinct before pushing in slender, newly slickened fingers to prepare him, and covered his face with his hands to ensure he remained silent.

Ezekiel said nothing more. He'd won their battle of words already.

.

It was almost a race afterwards, cold and warm bodies hurrying to finish before anyone caught sight of them, even though they could have moved inside at any point.

Janos supposed it was typical of them both, opposing forces joining to do something that could destroy them both if their luck ran out.

Janos came first, spilling hot over Ezekiel's cold fingers and biting into the flesh of his own palm to stop himself crying out, then had that heat stolen from him by Ezekiel's climax, cold flooding him to a point where it was near painful.

Ezekiel caught him before he could fall, brushed Janos' hair out of his face before fixing their clothes and scooping Janos up into his arms with care.

"Perhaps this will let me sleep," Ezekiel said, soft and almost affectionate as he carried Janos to the bed, setting him down on top of the sheets. "I hope our next meeting is as fruitful."

Janos lost his own reply, mumbling it into the pillows as a flap of leathery wings and rush of wind told him of Ezekiel's departure.

He could regret this in the morning.


End file.
